Knicks president Phil Jackson again asks Carmelo Anthony to take less money

Will Carmelo Anthony take less money and stay with Knicks? Phil Jackson wonders if he's up for the challenge. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

Phil Jackson was frolicking in Turkey just last week, and the second the Knicks president returns stateside he is back to playing a game of 'max deal' chicken with Carmelo Anthony.

Jackson reiterated on Thursday that his preference is to re-sign Anthony while making it abundantly clear that the club is looking to negotiate a contract that benefits both parties. Just short of pounding his fist on the lectern and saying "read my lips; no max deal," Jackson challenged the Knicks free agent forward to demonstrate that he's a team-first guy by taking less.

Advertisement

"He's the one that opened that up that it wasn't about the money," Jackson said before the NBA draft. "So I challenged him on that because I want our fans to see he's a team player, that he's going to do what was best for this team to get ahead farther and faster.

"It's not going to be an issue. I think there are going to be things that are going to be happening in the near future in the NBA that is going to grow this league monetarily that it's going to end up being a non-issue for us to do that."

Other than championship rings, Jackson also leads all NBA executives in moxie. After all, he didn't settle for less. Jackson is earning $12 million per as a rookie president.

He may be the Zen Master in places such as Istanbul and Playa Del Rey, but when Jackson's in New York and the job is to rebuild his beloved Knicks, he is Fiscally Responsible Phil.

Jackson upstaged the draft on Wednesday with an important move, swapping Tyson Chandler and dumping Raymond Felton on Dallas for a quality point guard in Jose Calderon, three role players and two second-round picks. What the Knicks sacrificed in interior defense they more than made up for it with leadership and perimeter shooting.

The deal contradicts the theory that Jackson is holding out until the summer of 2015 to revamp the roster since Calderon's contract runs through the 2016-17 season. When it was suggested that Jackson's first move compromised the team's salary-cap space next summer he said, "Not much. It's not enough to worry about that part of it."

No, Jackson is not going to fret over Calderon's contract or his own deal for that matter. But when it comes to paying Anthony, who becomes a free agent on July 1, well that is where Jackson draws the line.

Phil Jackson says Melo is the one who started talking about money. (Mark Lennihan/AP)

"We haven't come to that," Jackson said when asked if he and Anthony's representatives have discussed a max contract. "But the perception is we want Carmelo to be as interested in winning. When saying he's competitive and wants to be on a competitive team to also being able to demonstrate that if push comes to shove in a situation where he may have to take a little bit less and we're more competitive to bring in another player to help us bring this concept along."

The Knicks can offer Anthony as much $129 million over five years while the best the Bulls, Rockets, Heat, Mavs and Lakers can offer is $96 million over four years. Money, however, is not Anthony's top priority, winning is. Anthony has made it his mantra all season, and now Jackson is giving him the chance to prove that in New York.

This is Jackson at his best — using the media to get his message out and rattle the cage of one of an All-Star. Anthony should consider himself fortunate. In one sense, he's in the same class as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

"We have every confidence that Carmelo is good for what his word is, that he wants to be in New York, he likes playing in New York, he wants to compete, he wants to be part of a playoff team that is bound competitive toward a championship," Jackson said.

It's a smart play by Jackson, assuming it doesn't backfire. Meaning James Dolan gets involved and hijacks the Anthony negotiations for the second time in four years. Perhaps Anthony is counting on just that.

Jackson, though, is going to stick to his guns because he knows that re-signing Anthony helps the Knicks in the short term and losing could help the club in the long term. Either way, Jackson can't lose mainly because he always wins. It's his resume vs. Anthony's.

And Jackson has recent history on his side. LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade all took a little less and Miami reached four straight NBA Finals. Tim Duncan always takes less and he just won his fifth title.

Advertisement

You'll never convince Fiscally Responsible Phil that you can build a winner with a player on a max deal.

"I think it puts limitations on a team," he said. "What happens is then you end up having two or three players that have big contracts and everybody else's is either veteran minimums or young players coming in. You don't have that middle ground for a player that's veteran, comfortable leadership-quality people. Miami explored it. I think they got the most out of it."